If God is Good

Summary:  

Every one of us will experience suffering. Many of us are experiencing it now. As we have seen in recent years, evil is real in our world, present and close to each one of us. delves deep into a profound subject, and through compelling stories, provocative questions and answers, and keen biblical understanding, he brings assurance and hope to all. Alcorn, Randy

In such difficult times, suffering and evil beg questions about God–Why would an all-good and all-powerful God create a world full of evil and suffering? And then, how can there be a God if suffering and evil exist?

These are ancient questions, but also modern ones as well. Atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and even former believers like Bart Ehrman answer the question simply: The existence of suffering and evil proves there is no God.

In this captivating new book, best-selling author Randy Alcorn challenges the logic of disbelief, and brings a fresh, realistic, and thoroughly biblical insight to the issues these important questions raise.

Alcorn offers insights from his conversations with men and women whose lives have been torn apart by suffering, and yet whose faith in God burns brighter than ever. He reveals the big picture of who God is and what God is doing in the world–now and forever. And he equips you to share your faith more clearly and genuinely in this world of pain and fear.

As he did in his best-selling book, Heaven

Author Bio:

Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspectives Ministries and a bestselling author. His novels includeDeadline, Dominion, Edge of Eternity, Lord Foulgrin’s Letters, The Ishbane Conspiracy, and the Gold Medallion winner, Safely Home. He has written eighteen nonfiction books as well, including Heaven, The Treasure Principle, The Purity Principle, and The Grace and Truth Paradox. Randy and his wife, Nanci, live in Oregon and have two married daughters and four grandsons.

My Review:

Randy Alcorn takes a different approach to suffering in his book If God Is Good Faith In The Midst of Suffering and Evil.  Where many books on this topic tend to center around feeling, emotions and reaction Randy’s Book deals with logic.  He provides detailed scriptural evidence and analytical thought to the problems that plague all of humanity. 

Sin is a real problem and to understand it is to understand pain on a much deeper level.  Randy writes about the root of sin from it’s very first occurance and provides a roadmap through scripture of sin’s effects and how to overcome them.  This book also tackles our confusion about God’s character that causes even christians to waver in their faith.  Problems and trials are hard to line up with the idea of a good God, but when you come to the last page of If God is Good you will understand God in a new way.  You’ll be ready to trust Him with your problems when they come.

One of my favorite spots in this book included Ch. 11 A Study: Bart Ehrman, a “Christian” who Lost His Faith.  This chapter was a rich and thought-provoking warning of the dangers in questioning God’s wisdom and goodness.  I was challenged by it.

I also love what Randy writes on Pg.488:

“Suffering is limited.  It could be far worse.

Suffering is temperal. It could last far longer.

Suffering, as we’ve seen, produces some desirable good.  It can make us better people, and it can reveal God’s character in ways that bring him glory and bring us good.”

Wow!

If you are facing a time of suffering, pain or trial I recommend checking out Randy Alcorn’s If God Is Good.

You can go here to purhase this book online.